He nodded.
“Thanks, Mike. I appreciate it.”
“Good luck with Natalie.”
“Thanks. I’m definitely going to need it.”
“She’s not so bad. She’ll understand.”
“I hope so.” Hope was all I had.
10
Amelia refused to let me see Natalie. She was the one who met me at the door, arms crossed and lips pursed, letting me know I was not welcome inside the community center.
“Will you tell her I stopped by?” I asked, hoping it would be better than nothing.
“That’s all you want me to tell her?”
“I would like the chance to apologize to her in person and explain the entire situation.”
“What’s the situation?” Amelia asked.
“My editor twisted the entire article. Did you read it?”
Amelia snorted.
“Yeah, I figured you would. I showed Natalie my article. She said I didn’t have to, but I felt like it was the right thing to do since we both knew Gretchen wanted dirt on Natalie and Omar. I didn’t know she would change it.”
“And you really think that’s a good enough excuse?”
I shook my head. “No. There is no excuse. I just came from a meeting with Gretchen. She admitted she changed it, but she refused to print a retraction. She claimed everything was accurate, and technically it was, it was just done in a way that misrepresented Natalie and Omar.”
“That’s for damn sure,” Amelia muttered.
“I have gotten her to agree to leave future articles alone, and if she’s going to make changes, to share them twenty-four hours in advance so I have time to review them with Natalie.”
“I thought Natalie said she didn’t want to continue with these,” Amelia said, raising her eyebrows and daring me to lie.
“She did. And I respect her decision based on what happened. However, I’m hoping she’ll give me another chance. I like Natalie and Omar. I have a tremendous amount of respect for both of them. I want these articles to represent them and MacKellar Cove. Gretchen doesn’t understand what that means, but she’s promised she will not touch my next article.”
“And after that?” Amelia asked.
“I asked the same thing. That’s how I got her to agree to advance notice. But she said if the next article doesn’t get the same traffic, or more, she is likely to change things.”
Amelia glanced to the side. Her gaze locked on something, or someone, before she nodded. “Then I guess we better make sure the next article is a good one.”
I nodded. “I will. If Natalie will agree.”
As a reply, the security door clicked open.
I looked at Amelia for verification, and she nodded. I opened the door and stepped inside, seeing Natalie right inside the door.
“I am so sorry,” I told her. “I had no idea those changes were going to be made until after you’d texted me. As soon as my daughter went to school, I read the article, then went right over to Gretchen. She never should have done that to you.”
“No, she shouldn’t. But I appreciate you standing up for me like you did.”
“I’m not the only one who disagrees with what Gretchen did. If she continues like this, I will quit. And one of my colleagues said the same.”
